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TURNING STONE RESORT CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2010

Alex Cejka

VERONA, NEW YORK

ADAM WALLACE: All right. We'd like to welcome Alex Cejka, the third-round leader at the Turning Stone Resort Championship to the interview room. Alex, great round today, bogey-free. You've only had three bogeys all week. If you could just talk us through your round today and your thoughts going into tomorrow.
ALEX CEJKA: I actually had a bogey on the second hole. I three-putted. But you know, I've been playing well all week. I like it out here. The course suits my eye, suits my game, and you know, I had a strong finish. I birdied 16, 17, 18. It was great. And I'm very pleased to be in that position.

Q. Alex, great day to play golf. Just about perfect conditions, or not so?
ALEX CEJKA: Almost, yeah. You know, obviously it was a little bit windy out there. I mean compared to yesterday it was nothing, but you know, it's nice and warm. The ball goes a good distance here because it's warm.
The breeze was a little bit, you know, affected, but really not as bad as yesterday.

Q. You noticed obviously that everybody seemed to be making birdies and putting up very low rounds, 63s, 64s, and obviously you started slow. How important is that approach shot on the fourth that nearly went in? Did that turn your round around?
ALEX CEJKA: Yes. Especially after the three-putt on 2. And I just told myself, just be patient. You know, I mean I know I'm going to have, if I play well, if I hit good shots, I'm going to have, whatever, eight chances, you know, and I gotta make some.
So you know, in the middle of the round when I look up at the leaderboard, I was trying to avoid it, but I saw suddenly I dropped down to sixth place, and I saw the scores, like 9-under, 8-under, 8-under.
So it's possible on this course. The par-5s are reachable. You know, a couple par-4s, with that kind of weather you have only a wedge or sand wedge in. And as I said, I just told myself to be patient and wait for my chances.

Q. Alex, last three holes, anything special? Were you feeling especially charged up or what was the deal there?
ALEX CEJKA: No. I just hit good shots. I hit a great 6-iron on 16 to about six feet and I holed the putt.
17, you know, 17 is a tricky hole, but today the wind was a little bit helping off the right and I really hit a great drive. I hit only a 9-iron in. I think I hit a 5-iron yesterday into 17. So you know, that's the difference.
And 18, I didn't catch my drive yesterday. I hit it in the bunker. You know, today I just killed it and I hit it over the trap. And then from there it's reachable.

Q. Alex, there's a big pack up on the leaderboard right now. You're two strokes up. Do you like your situation going into tomorrow or do you kind of feel people breathing down your neck, I mean anybody can do anything now?
ALEX CEJKA: Oh, no. I'd rather be two in front than four behind, you know. Doesn't matter what happens tomorrow. The other will have to come, too, but it's always nice to have the lead. You know, it doesn't matter by how many.
And you know, it's still a long way to go, 18 holes, especially with this kind of course where somebody who's 10-under who can shoot a 9-under or 10-under, what we've seen over the last couple weeks that somebody shoots a 59 or 60. It's possible. It's doable.
I still have to go out there tomorrow and try hard and try to shoot a couple under. I cannot rely on my two-shot lead and trying to go out there and just shoot even par. I don't think that would do it.

Q. Have you ever had a third-round lead before?
ALEX CEJKA: Oh, yeah.

Q. When was the last time?
ALEX CEJKA: Last time was New Orleans this year.
ADAM WALLACE: This is the third time.
ALEX CEJKA: Yeah. I think third time.

Q. What do you take from those experiences that -- obviously neither time you won when you had the lead before. What do you take from those? What do you do differently this time? What's your approach?
ALEX CEJKA: You know, it's tough to say what I -- it depends what the situation when I wake up tomorrow how the weather is, how I feel on the driving range.
I think in the past I was struggling a little bit with the putter the first couple holes when I had the lead, and suddenly the lead was gone after three, four holes because you know, you make one bad shot, you make a three-putt and suddenly someone makes a birdie and you're not in the lead already.
You know, I hope I learned something out of it in the past and it will show tomorrow.

Q. On 17, it looked like Chris had basically the same putt as you. He went first; he missed. How much did that help you on your birdie putt? How big was that considering how hard that hole is? And it's kind of like stealing a shot there.
ALEX CEJKA: Well, I knew my line. I knew I was going to hit it left edge, and after seeing him miss it to the right, so I definitely knew it's going to break to the right. So I was just positive. I took my line left edge and just hit a positive putt.

Q. Alex, yesterday the stretch of holes from 13 to 15 were playing really difficult into the wind. There was a lot of wind out there. Can you talk about the difference between those three holes yesterday compared to how they played today?
ALEX CEJKA: Well, yesterday the wind was really, really strong. I had no -- even on 12, is it 12, the par-5, I couldn't reach it. You know, today some of the guys, the group in front of me could reach it. I was laying up only.
The next hole is at least a two-club wind. Today maybe one club only. You know, the next one is a pretty tough driving hole with the water on the left, the wind coming into your face. You know, but if you make good shots, you know, it's -- everything is possible, but you gotta focus. There's a few holes really where you have to be extra careful.

Q. Alex, what would a win this week do for your confidence and your career?
ALEX CEJKA: I mean every win is nice. It doesn't matter if it's the first or the 10th or the 20th.
I won a couple in Europe already. It was great. I'm here now about seven years, I think. I had a couple chances. I never won. It would be great. I mean I can't tell you how I would feel. I gotta wait. But I think what I hear from all my colleagues, it's special.

Q. Alex, can you give a short version of your life story here? I know you left Czechoslovakia at nine.
ALEX CEJKA: Short version?

Q. Short version, yeah. We can speed it up real quick. How you wound up in golf.
ALEX CEJKA: The version is I was nine. My dad, we were living in the Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia back then, communism. And he just decided to give me a better life, probably give himself a better life and had the guts to take me on a long trip to Germany. For me I didn't know what was going on. I was too young. Nobody told me anything.
I really don't remember much. I just remember, it was maybe two weeks, the trip, and I just remember he hugged me. He started crying and said, "we did it, we did it." But you know, as a nine-year-old, it was a fun trip for me. I had no idea how dangerous that is, what he went through.
You know, after years, when I got a little bit older, he told me and I understood. But when you're nine, as even my kids say, they don't understand when I take them, we go there and we go there. You know what I mean?
We were just having a good time, and he was entertaining me and he didn't -- you know, he probably was scared, but he didn't show it really.

Q. So did you have to officially seek asylum?
ALEX CEJKA: What does that mean?

Q. Protection from another country. When you left Czechoslovakia and arrived in Germany, did you have to officially -- did you go to like a consulate and say --
ALEX CEJKA: Yes. Yes. We went in a camp. We were in a camp for like refugees kind of for a while. I don't know. I really can't remember how long, but then I just know that my dad had a friend working in Frankfurt, and we stayed with him for a while. But when we got to Germany, I remember we were in some kind of a camp for a while. But I really don't know.

Q. So how long from that point, from age nine, then, did you wind up playing golf?
ALEX CEJKA: Well, I started in the Czech Republic already. You know, back then it wasn't, how you say it, it wasn't as big as it is now. But in my village where I was growing up, there was a golf course where almost everybody who lived there was a member kind of. And I started to practice or play a little bit. Not practice. Play a little bit.
But really, when we got to Germany and I joined a club, that's where I kind of got my first pro gave me -- I couldn't afford lessons or my dad couldn't afford lessons, so he saw me practicing. And when he was in between lessons, he would walk by and say, listen, I see this, I see this. Try this. That's how it kind of started. And I think I joined the club when I was like 12 or so. 12 or 13.

Q. So is it kind of safe to say, then, had your father not made that decision, you might not be sitting where you are or you would not be sitting where you are right now?
ALEX CEJKA: Yeah. Well, it's tough to say. Who knew that the Iron Curtain was going to come down eight years later. But probably I think if we would have stayed there, if my dad wouldn't have risked his life and would give us the chance, then I would be doing probably something else.
ADAM WALLACE: All right. Thanks, Alex. Good luck tomorrow.
ALEX CEJKA: Thank you. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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